My new article on Linkedin “The Hypocrisy of Sex Scandals”

Every once in a while, and today more often than before, a sex scandal explodes in the media and everyone is shocked to hear that this or that celebrity, who used to be a role model we all grew up on and admired, is really a monster in disguise. When this happens, moralists click their tongues in disapproval, and quickly turn to social media to express their righteous indignation and disbelief that this person, the idol of our youth, was actually a sex predator, a villain of the worst kind.

When we talk about climate change, pandemics, power outages, or even a traffic jam, we don’t realize that these are manifestations of our connectedness. The only reason they are here is that we are unaware that our thoughtless and careless attitude to one another causes them.

I think they’re hypocritical. First, when such a scandal blows up, you will always find people who knew about it but kept silent, or would have known about it had they not tried so hard not to see the obvious. Second, there is nothing new about this phenomenon; sex perversions have been an inseparable part of human perversions throughout the ages. In ancient cultures, such as in Egypt, Greece, or Rome, some perversions were permitted and acceptable, and others were regarded as an abomination. In more puritan times, such as the Middle-Ages, one could find oneself tied to the stake for having done the same thing others did in antiquity, without anyone making a fuss over it. It is not that the condemning puritans did not commit the same “crimes” they had accused others of committing; it’s just that they hid it better, and were mainly better connected to the authorities in charge of exposing such “immoral” behaviors.

The truth about these scandals is not that such misdemeanors are burgeoning, but that they are used more often than before against their perpetrators. In other words, today, accusations of sexual misconduct are a weapon that politicians use in order to destroy their rivals. Exposing sex crimes will not prevent the next crime or make potential victims safer. It will, however, affect the accused, even if the accusation turns out to be false. Therefore, the next time a sex scandal breaks out, check who benefits from its exposure.

If we want to prevent sex crimes, we needn’t focus on punishment, but on educating the public. I’m not saying we should not punish sex offenders; I am merely pointing out that if we want to prevent such crimes, the way to do it is not by intimidation but by education to consideration.

We are brought up in a social environment that teaches us nothing but to focus on our own wants and needs, and ignore those of others. With such a narcissistic upbringing, people are bound to be inconsiderate and apathetic to other people’s suffering; they will not cringe at the thought of hurting other people.

But the truth is that such behaviors hurt the offender too, and not only the victim. In truth, we are connected and dependent on each other even if we aren’t aware of it. We could become aware of it; we could know how to conduct ourselves in a way that’s satisfying to us and to everyone around us, but we must first be taught to see ourselves within the bigger picture of humanity.

When we talk about climate change, pandemics, power outages, or even a traffic jam, we don’t realize that these are manifestations of our connectedness. The only reason they are here is that we are unaware that our thoughtless and careless attitude to one another causes them.

If we were educated about our interconnections, we would know how to conduct ourselves so as not to inflict pandemics on ourselves. Moreover, there would be countless benefits to such awareness: We wouldn’t hurt each other since we would feel, not just intellectually, but truly feel it in our hearts that we are all connected. And just as I wouldn’t hurt myself, I wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

Can you imagine how living in such a society would feel? We wouldn’t have to worry about sex crimes, or any crime, for that matter, since people wouldn’t dream of hurting other people; they would feel connected!

It turns out that the true knowledge we all need is not the next tech gadget, but the awareness that we are all connected and affect each other in myriad ways. If we knew this and lived by this awareness, we would treat each other humanely, the way human beings should treat other human beings, and there would be no scandals of any kind.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the defining characteristics of being Jewish?“

Anyone who agrees with rising above the egoistic human nature in order to positively connect with other people—according to the phrase “Love your friend as yourself”—is considered a Jew, which comes from the word for “unity” (“Yichud“).

It is not a matter of having Jewish ancestry in the physical and biological sense, but everybody—all humanity—will eventually have to reach such a state. In other words, everybody will reach a state of unification above the divisive ego, as it is written, that then the Land of Israel will spread to the entire world, which means that all people in the world will live according to the tenet, “Love your friend as yourself.”

I am certain that we will reach this state. The only questions are when and how we will aid it to come about.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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New Life 1298 – Creating Connection In A Team
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and NitzahMazoz

True connection within a team is established when each member cooperates internally and emotionally by complementing others so the group actually feels as one. Each one gives their heart to the others, which forms an entity that is above everyone and wraps everyone. By connecting in this way, each member of the team will feel the additional power and energy of nature, which will heal everything. If a dispute breaks out, the team ascends above it in order to be as one again and covers everything with love. The purpose of the pandemic is to teach us that we are, in fact, one team that is taking care of one patient: humanity, which needs to unite.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1298 – Creating Connection In A Team,” 2/14/21

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Question: How can we feel the Creator’s control over the entire creation? What can we do about corporeal hobbies that suck us in?

Answer: The desires for corporeal pleasures do not disappear. It is said that since the destruction of the Temple, only Kabbalists have the desire for corporeal pleasures.

A person, who reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah is swallowed by the method of study at first and is caught up by it, but after a while all this disappears and one is drawn in different directions.

This is where the spiritual work begins. A person needs to understand that this is how one is drawn to develop spiritually and that now you must constantly keep your goal in front of yourself, find out how to increase your spiritual advancement, how to get closer to the goal, and how not to be distracted by other things. If you are distracted it should be only for a short time and then you should immediately return to the spiritual path again.

Like a person who must eat, but does not stretch it out for two or three hours. Or, for example, feels that he needs to do a little exercise—so he runs for 15-20 minutes and will immediately return to his spiritual work. It is the same with all his other engagements.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/9/18

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Question: Psychologists have one common point for all problems—pure music, without words. Music is a remedy from stress, from pain, from depression. What is there in music that heals and cleanses and raises?

Answer: Music affects the ear. This is the most sensual thing in a person, not smell, not touch, not taste, but hearing. When harmony is properly tuned, it affects you almost immediately. A few beats, and a person is already in it.

Music is able to lift and lull and heal. But these are all such small, weak, earthly means.

Do not be seduced by this, because the fact is that it depends on the preparation of a person, on his upbringing. He must understand this music. The Papuans will not understand Bach. And the classics will not understand contemporary music.

But no matter what kind of music it is, it is still a very strong accompaniment to the entire history of mankind, because it is at the level of Bina, and this is the sense of hearing.

Music is very powerful.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/18/21

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Dreaming involves serious work on the part of our brain, it processes and stores all available information accumulated over a day or several days. The information is then allocated and stored in the archive of our minds. During this process, many random connections take place, so dreams frequently appear illusory.

In fact, during our dream state, serious decisions and actions take place. The mind works very intensively, but on a deep, inner level, which we have not yet explored. When this information has been stored and internally processed on the subconscious level, a person is ready to awaken.

We always see dreams. They constantly appear before us, for these processes are erratic inside our minds.

A person is now ready for the next day, for the following correct perception of information based on the previous day and the dream that he experienced, i.e., for a re-evaluation of the information that occurred during sleep. Therefore dreams, while disconnecting you from reality, allow you to correctly reset yourself and arrive at a new state with a different take on reality.

It is the same in spirituality since our world is a reflection of the spiritual world.

In spirituality, without falling asleep or disconnecting from reality like in our world, we consciously raise ourselves to the next level as if to the next day. Having broken away from the previous degree and not yet risen to the next one, we remain between them and wish to consciously transition from one to the other. This is the night between two days.

Between two realities we can feel such states that we are not internally ready for. We can feel what is not yet part of our understanding and see things that we are seemingly not supposed to see yet. We are still not ready for them.

Therefore, dreams are a very special, beautiful state from which you can draw far-reaching conclusions and find new aspirations.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #5

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Question: How can corporeal egoistic actions like studying, for example, extract the absolutely heavenly spiritual force of bestowal from the upper world?

Answer: Indeed, if our world is not connected to the upper world in any way, how can I do something through my physical actions, through my egoism?

The point is there is nothing I can do. However, we have been given the opportunity to gather in tens and try to unite between us despite our egoism, above it. And although I cannot do that at all, to the extent that I try to connect with the friends, I invoke the upper light unto me. That is, there is a so-called branch-to-root connection, and I can do it.

If I behave in a certain way with the friends in the group and we study Kabbalistic sources together, create connections between us, and imitate the images and actions Kabbalah writes about, then even if I am in my egoism, I still feel an internal inspiration to summon the impact of the upper surrounding light unto me.

This light surrounds the ego on purpose, and to the extent that the ego yearns for it and seemingly wants to resemble it, the light impacts the ego and changes it.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/23/18

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Comment: On the second Israeli TV channel there was a story about a charity canteen that opened in Tel Aviv.

The number of their clients increased by almost 70%. These are new people who come there for a free lunch. And these people feel very uncomfortable. They are the former waiters, former El Al flight attendants, a real mix of different kinds of people. There are a lot of young people, boys and girls. They do not look up so as not to see each other. They come up, get lunch, and carefully ask: “How much does it cost?” They learn that it costs nothing and step aside.

The feeling of shame was conveyed very strongly.

My Response: Shame is the most burning feeling. Stronger than any pain. Even sometimes stronger than death.

Question: Do you need to rise above this feeling when you go to such a place?

Answer: The point is that either you want to justify this feeling of shame: “I don’t care, everything is so, and I am like that,” and so on. That is, you can somehow chat about it at the everyday level, at the level of our world.

But, in principle, this is the most terrible feeling. Because the feeling of shame is actually a feeling of annulling a person in you. That is, you are really nothing and nobody.

We do not even understand to what extent we must remove what is called “I” from ourselves and leave only the animal shell from this. And the animal is not ashamed.

It is, of course, very difficult. And I do not think that humanity will correct itself based on this, although this is the most serious level of correction. I think that after all, we will reveal the path of light to people and not the path of suffering.

Question: Is this the path of real suffering?

Answer: This is the path of real suffering, because in fact, if a person is brought to a very serious feeling of shame, he will only pray to die. “Why did I live to see this ?!” I would like to just cease to exist.

Question: What do we do with this state?

Answer: We only need to reveal our purpose, that this is the highest governance, the system is so arranged and it causes such feelings of shame in us so that we rise above our “I,” so they would not annul it, but rise above it.

Question: Can you say how to rise above my “I,” which cries out, is ashamed, as it is said: “Death is better than this kind of life”? How do we rise above this “I,” above this shame?

Answer: With a good attitude toward people. This shame is designed to make us lose our temper.

Question: Then tell me, how can I not be ashamed? In difficult situations, what should I do?

Answer: You cannot be ashamed only in two cases: either you lose your human appearance and become an animal, that is: “Oh, I don’t care! I don’t care about anything!” In general, when you sort of annihilate everything that is outside of you. When you annul society, the whole environment, then you have no shame. You cancel it, so what are you ashamed of?

Or, when you annul yourself in relation to society and say: “I am worth nothing. I am ready to do everything for the sake of society, to belong to the society in everything! My “I” is nothing, only “we” exist!” And then shame also disappears.
This second option is preferable. But there are also higher ones.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/2/20

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Question: From which point can I push myself to advance if my desire doesn’t want to?

Answer: Of course you don’t want to! It is like asking the Creator to take you back to the starting point of creation in which you were a total zero. Cancel me so I do not exist. It is the most repulsive appeal you can make to the Creator if a person says that he doesn’t agree with everything that the Creator has done.

It appears in us naturally when we despise our life, our attributes, this world, and everything that happens to us. This is a terrible state.

We need to ascend above all this a little and see that it is all intentional in order to push us out of this world, so that we will somehow try ascend above it and ask that Creator to raise us and see all the powers, the attributes, and the negative events that we encounter as opportunities that we are given in order to balance ourselves, and without which we will not be able to advance.

These states are crucial so that we can leap above them to the next level and then to the next level, etc. This is how we constantly advance.

So don’t look at our world as a given state. The Creator distorts it on purpose so that we will ascend to the next level as soon as possible.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/16/18

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Question: “I came back from dead in the full sense of the word: I  experienced clinical death after falling from the eighth floor of a building. I survived. What I saw and felt cannot be expressed in words—it was a sense of peace and love. The kind of love that does not exist. I now understand that it is not terrible to die. It is much worse to live in this world.

Can you explain what I saw and why I was brought back to this world? And why do we suffer so much here if it is so good there?”

Answer: I also experienced clinical death. I also felt this inspiration and this peace. So what? We must still fulfill all the conditions that are given to us from above, from the highest level of nature. You should not dwell on it too much.

You will not understand it now anyway, I am not going to explain it to you either. You must live by the law, that is, to try and stick to the good in spite of everything that nature awakens in you.

Comment: What about the fact that a person lives with this memory of how good it was and is no longer afraid to die? This man is no longer afraid.

My Response This too is given to him now. It is his destiny to undergo such states.

Question: Well, you know, there are a lot of TV programs and incredible books that people cannot put down, they become bestsellers. They describe how a person comes back from the other world and how good it was there: a tunnel of light, love, and on and on. Is this all to calm us down?

Answer: It has nothing to do with the truth. No connection.

Comment: You are breaking people’s hearts now. They are holding on to this notion.

My Response The main thing is to sweeten this life of yours. They say that life here is not that important as long as there is something waiting for us later.

There will be no Egyptian pyramids, no dancing concubines or whatnot—nothing is awaiting for us there at all.

Question: But you constantly tell us that if we reach the spiritual world, that it is a state of love, a state of bestowal, a state of peace. When you say that, what do you mean?

Answer: The upper world is a state of correct self-assessment. Meaning, it is more like a trial, a very deep psychological evaluation of your feelings, your thoughts, and your actions from the standpoint of truth, which becomes revealed when you break away from the body.

After all, what is it about living or dying? It is about giving up your ego. Only then can one see not through his ego, but the true picture of what is happening in the universe. Then a person can see what is called the future world, the upper world. Not through the ego. Through the ego, one only sees this world.

Question: So you can actually say that gradually, if you let a person break away from egoism, from this body even a little, that he can already experience the states that make such an impression on him?

Answer: Yes, you can say so.

Question: And the truth, is it a billion, many billion times greater than all of this here?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And you are telling us that man can come to the truth in this life, in this body, in this world? Even to a much greater state than he has felt and is dreamed of?

Answer: Of course! A billion times greater.

This requires a special inner state of man, of his desires, intentions, his strength. Otherwise, it will crush him. Therefore, man is not allowed to experience it until he acquires in this world the screen—the force of resistance to egoism—in order not to trade these special states for something sweet. Then it is given to him.

Comment: You are saying that there is such great, incredible love and happiness in store for us that we have to …

My Response: … be prepared for it. And a person gets prepared for it in this world If he wants to.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/2/20

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